by Kaci Rose
“Do you believe in fate?”
“I’m starting to.”
We get up and get ready and head to her parents’. Her mom insisted on making homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast while we open gifts and spend the day together.
The moment we walk into her parents’ house, the smell of cinnamon hits me and it’s doesn’t escape me how much this place feels like home from the moment I’m in the door.
We are sitting in the living room and I’m watching Avery pass out her gifts. She got my mom a gift basket from Loveless café, and my mom hasn’t put the cookbook down since. She rented a cabin in FL for her parents’ next trip, so they have their own space instead of staying with her mom’s sister like they do every year.
Then she turns to me. “Your gift is the last one to be opened so you are going to have to wait.” She shrugs.
“I got you to agree to be my girlfriend, that’s the best gift you could ever give me.”
Both Moms let out a chorus of, ‘Awws’ and I just shake my head.
“Me next!” My mom jumps up. She got Avery’s parents’ a travel journal and they gush about how they love the idea and wish they had thought about it sooner. When Avery opens her gift and it’s just a photo frame, I’m confused why she has tears in her eyes.
“How did you do this?” she asks to my mom.
“Last night while you were sleeping.”
She turns the frame around and in it is a large piece of the wallpaper from the downstairs bathroom that she had said she wanted to frame to place in the house.
“I mentioned this to you just a few days ago, how did you make it happen?”
“I have my ways.” Mom smiles.
“That damn wallpaper.” Avery’s dad shakes his head but smiles too. “You are going to redo that bathroom, right?”
“Yeah, I wanted to keep some wallpaper though. This is perfect, thank you.”
“Here you go, baby.” Mom hands me a wrapped box. I open it and my eyes go wide. Inside is a special edition box set of my favorite mystery book series.
“It gets better, open the cover,” Mom says.
I open the cover to find them personalized and signed.
“Mom?”
“He did a book signing in Nashville a few months back. I talked to my boss about it, and he had some stuff to do in Nashville, so he took me into the city dropped me off and picked me back up. I even still got paid for the day.”
“I think he likes you as more than his assistant, Mom.” I smile she waves her hands at me.
“Don’t start, Denver.” Mom gives me a stern glare.
“Our turn.” Avery’s mom pops up and passes out a small box to my mom whose eyes go wide when she opens it.
“What is it?” I ask her.
“Season tickets to your games.” My eyes dart to her parents. I know those tickets aren’t cheap. As it is, I only get four tickets all year to give away and I give them to my mom because she uses every one of them. But having season tickets and knowing she will be at every home game is an emotion I can’t explain.
“Thank you,” Mom whispers, overwhelmed with their kindness.
“Well, Avery mentioned how you only get so many tickets each season and I know as a parent who lived so close, I’d want to be at every game. This way you can be. Those seats are near his team’s benches too.”
Mom hugs both of them and then me too.
“Here, sweetie, we didn’t have time to add Denver’s to your gift but his goes with yours, so open it together.” Avery’s mom hands her a box.
Inside the small box is a plane ticket and before we can ask, her mom starts talking. “Good for anywhere in the USA any time over the next year. There will be one for Denver too. We figure you two can maybe go somewhere spring break and get away from school for a bit. You need the full college experience and I know you haven’t done a spring break yet. Plus having a bulked-up football player to watch over you can’t be a bad thing.”
Avery looks at me. “Mom is always pushing me to make sure to do all the college experiences, parties, beer pongs, spring break, football games… all of it.”
“You only get this chance once, make the most of it.” Mom adds.
Now I’m up. I hand a gift to her parents.
“I wasn’t sure what to get you, but I thought you might enjoy this.”
Their eyes light up as they start flipping through the photo album, I put together of photos I was able to find of Avery at school.
“Where did you get these photos?” her mom asks in awe as Avery leans over to take a look.
“Most of them are from football events. I asked a few of her friends for some, Kelsey has an abnormally large collection of photos of you, by the way.” I look over at Avery.
“Oh, I know. It’s a thing with us, I have a ton of her too.”
I hand my mom her gift bag. It’s a day at a Nashville spa while we are still here. She never gets pampered and I want to make sure she will be. Avery helped me plan this one because I don’t know a thing about day spas.
“Thank you, baby!”
“You’re going to go while we here in Nashville, non-negotiable.” I give her my stern face and she smiles and nods.
“And he already gave me my gift…” Avery shows off the necklace I got her. What no one knows is that I found that necklace over a year ago and knew it was perfect for her and bought it then, not knowing the significance of the number 18, other than it was my number. Not knowing if I’d ever have the chance to give it to her. I love seeing it on her now. It looks better than I ever imagined it would.
“Okay, now for your gift.” Avery hands me an envelope but it doesn’t escape me the large smiles on her parents’ faces and how she is almost bouncing out of her seat.
I carefully open the envelope and take out the paper inside, taking in Avery’s excitement one more time before looking at the paper in front of me. It takes me a minute to register what I’m looking at.
“Avery?”
“My dad pulled a few strings and got the three of us a private tour at the Titans Stadium. He has a friend who works there who will be showing us around. I know the Titans are where you want to end up and I know you wanted to show the stadium to your mom.” She shrugs.
“Come here, beautiful,” I whisper.
I don’t care that our parents are in the room and three sets of eyes are on us, this girl just gave me the perfect gift. I pull her into me with my hand behind her neck and kiss her hard.
“Thank you,” I say against her lips, and place one more soft kiss there before pulling away.
I face her dad. “Thank you for this.”
“It was all Avery. I just made a phone call.” He nods.
The rest of the day is spent baking cookies, eating, and talking. Her parents get to know us and in return share stories of young Avery, making her blush a few times.
Chapter 19
Avery
I dropped mom and dad off at the airport yesterday and they told me they really like Denver and hope I bring him home again soon.
Today we have been loading boxes in my dad’s truck and taking them to the room in my parents’ basement for storage, this way when or if I rent out the house it’s all out of there. My plan is once I move in myself and I’ll bring the boxes back and go through them properly then.
Denver is driving us to my parents’ place on our last run of the day and Gina insisted on staying back to make dinner and try out my grandma’s bread maker. She really does love that kitchen.
Denver has been holding my hand the whole drive and talking about the stadium tour because my dad texted me the time and instructions for tomorrow.
We get the boxes unloaded as he is setting the last one down, I just take him in as his muscles flex and strain under his shirt. He catches me watching and stalks over to me and before I know it, he throws me over his shoulder and is carrying me back up the basement steps with me laughing the whole way.
He sets me down in the kitchen. “S
top staring at me like you want to rip my clothes off, sweet girl.”
“Maybe it’s because I do.”
He growls but I just smile and look toward the ceiling.
“You know I’ve always had a fantasy of sneaking a boy up to my room but never got the chance.”
“Yeah?”
“Yep. Do you know anyone who would be willing to fulfill my fantasy?”
“You better be messing with me, beautiful, because if any other guys end up in your room, they’re likely to lose their life.”
I hold out my hand with a smile and he takes it, following behind me on my way up the stairs.
He walks into my room and I stop at the door to take him in. This hulk of a football player standing in my childhood room full of my stuffed animals, awards, and a few boy band posters on the barely-there purple wall paint. Mom and dad haven’t changed the room one bit.
He glances around before looking back at me and walking over and placing his hand on my waist.
“You never snuck a boy up here?”
“Not once.”
“You coming in or staying there?”
I smile and step in and close the door, then pull him down for a kiss. His hands trail up my sides under my shirt and brushes his thumb along the bottom of my bra.
“Ever make out with a boy in this house?” he murmurs into my neck.
“No, I didn’t spend much time here with boys.”
His hands trail up a bit higher and I speed the process up by reaching down and removing my shirt. His breath hitches as I reach around to remove my bra as well.
“God, you’re beautiful.”
I know I have to be blushing. I drop my gaze, but his finger is right there under my chin tilting my head up.
“That blush is sexy, Avery, don’t hide it from me.”
I take a deep breath and nod. He reaches behind himself and pulls his shirt over his head. Seeing all that tan skin and muscles makes my head spin. This sexy man that all the girls at school are lusting over is mine.
I slide my pants off then walk over to my queen-size bed and lay down in the middle.
“You going to join me?” I ask. He eyes me hungrily and nods, removing his pants until he is in just his black boxer briefs as he climbs into bed with me. He runs a finger over my lips, down my neck, between my breast to my belly button. Then he continues down to the top of my black lace underwear and traces over the fabric.
“Mmm, nice and wet for me.”
I arch my hips trying to get more friction and he smiles. He pulls the fabric aside and strokes my clit at the same time he takes one of my nipples into his mouth. The dual sensation washes over me and my hand flies to his hair and I moan out his name.
“That’s right, baby, no one here to hear us.” His mouth moves to my other breast and he thrusts two fingers into me while using his thumb on my clit.
“God, you’re so tight.”
I gasp when he takes my breast again, sucking harder this time as he curls his fingers inside me, hitting that perfect spot that makes me buck my hips and explode a second later screaming his name.
“Fuck, I love how loud you are, such a turn on.”
He pulls his fingers out, causing me to whimper at the loss. He brings them to his mouth, sucking off my juices and letting out a moan.
“I think I’m addicted to your taste.” He moves to go for more, but I stop him.
“I want you, Denver,” I whisper.
“You are about to get me.”
“I want you inside of me.”
He stops moving and closes his eyes.
“You sure about this, Avery?”
“Yes, this is my fantasy after all. I’m sure you felt how wet it made me seeing my sexy, muscular, football player boyfriend standing in my room. Can’t you feel how much I want this?”
“Avery...”
“Denver, I want this so much,” I say and my heart races.
He studies my face and takes a deep breath. When he stands up, I think he’s about to leave but he reaches for his wallet, pulls out a condom and sets it on the nightstand.
He kicks off his boxers. I run my eyes over him as he strokes his cock a few times before taking a deep breath and climbing back into bed.
He kneels over me and hooks his finger in the side of my panties and slowly slides them down my legs and tosses them on to the floor. This is the first time we have been completely naked in front of each other and it’s not awkward, it’s a turn on seeing Denver hard and ready for me.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so sexy, baby. You laid out naked and wet for me, I can see how wet you are from here.”
He reaches for the condom and rolls it on without taking his eyes off me. He runs his hands up my legs then pushes them wide and settles between them. He takes my hands in his as he rests on his elbows and holds my hands above my head.
The head of his cock is at my entrance, but he pauses.
“Denver,” I whisper his name and he smiles softly at me.
“Just give me a minute, baby, I want to remember everything about this moment. How you look under me, the desire in your eyes, the feel of your skin on mine. There is no turning back after this, Avery. It would break me if you walked away now.”
God, this man has the sweetest heart under his buff exterior. Knowing only I get that side of him soothes my fears in a way I didn’t think possible.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m right where I’m meant to be. I feel it.”
“Eyes on me, baby.” His voice is hoarse with passion. I can’t remember a time when a guy wanted me so much, it’s empowering and has me dripping and ready for him.
My eyes meet his and he slowly slides into me never breaking eye contact and lets out a long, loud groan.
“Oh, god, you feel so damn good.” He pulls out and slides back in. “So tight.” He buries his head in my neck as he gives one more thrust and fills me. He pauses there and, in that moment, skin to skin, feeling so full, something shifts within me. I’m tethered to him in a way I can’t explain. Like I’m not me without him.
It’s never felt like this, so right. He starts slowly thrusting, pulling halfway out and then sliding back in. He lifts his head and his eyes meet mine and while no words are spoken so much is said.
As he picks up speed my nerves start to tingle through my body and pressure builds in my core. His lips take mine and he stills for a moment as he kisses me. He lets go of one of my hands and slides his around my lower back and raises my hips to change his angle, making me gasp.
“I’m not going to last much longer; you feel too good.”
“I’m close, too,” I gasp.
He makes one little shift and hits a spot inside I didn’t know existed. I instantly come so hard that I dig my nails into his back and hold on tight because I feel like I might fly away. His body starts shaking, his hand gripping mine tighter as he moans my name in my ear until he stills and his climax washes over him. When I open my eyes, he wraps his arms around me and turns us to lie on our sides not immediately pull out of me.
He's breathing is as heavily as I am. I lean in to kiss him again.
“Wow,” I whisper.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know...” I trail off, realizing it’s not cool to talk about sex with other guys while in bed with your boyfriend.
“Didn’t know what, sweet girl?”
I sigh. “I didn’t know it could be like that.”
A huge grin covers his face. “I should say I’m sorry but I’m not, this is us and I will make sure it always stays like this.”
I smile and kiss him slow and sweet.
“Where’s the bathroom?”
“Down the hall, the door on the left.”
I watch him walk away and then slide under the covers not wanting to move just yet. He walks in and sets something in a bag on the floor next to the bed.
“Don’t think you want your parents finding a condom in the trash.”
I cringe
and he laughs. Then his eyes heat and he peels back the covers to lie beside me. He slowly trails his fingers over my shoulder, across both breasts, down to my stomach, my hip, and back up.
“I can’t wait to learn every part of your body, baby. I’ve been dreaming of this moment a lot longer than I should have been.”
I take my turn and run a finger down his chest and stomach to his hips stopping just above his cock, which causes him to shiver, then I trace back up and pull him in for another kiss.
“We should get back, Mom is making dinner,” he whispers against my lips.
I could stay here in our warm happy bubble all night, but I know he is right, so I nod, and we get ready to head out.
Chapter 20
Denver
Today is the private tour of the Tennessee stadium. I’m so excited to show this to my mom and to be experiencing it with Avery.
We meet Avery’s dad’s friend at 10 a.m. and he shows us some of the offices and then he takes us to what he jokes is the underbelly—The training rooms and locker room.
While in the locker room he talks to my mom about things like the ice bath and how they treat injured players. I walk up behind Avery and wrap my arms around her.
“One day I will play here,” I whisper into her ear and turn her to face one of the lockers. “One day my lockers will be in here. You will meet me at the stadium, and I will fuck you against my locker so that before every game I have the memory of being inside you, because that will be the first thing I do when I get home every night.”
She gasps, making me smile, and I nip her ear before pulling away.
We walk out and take in the view from the field. We can’t walk on to the grass, but we can snap a few photos from the sidelines with the field behind us.
Next, we tour a press box and then he gives us a rare peek into the owner’s suite. The view is right on the fifty-yard line and you can see the whole sodium, the word ‘Titans’ painted on to the seats, and the Nashville skyline behind.
One day I hope my girl will be watching me play from one of these suites.
On the way home, my mom and Avery talk about the spa day they are doing tomorrow. I plan to do a few landscaping things around the house for her to keep busy. It’s a great way to end our time here in Nashville.